Squish
by moonswirl
Summary: Gleekathon, day seventy-four: CBT #3 A misunderstanding stands between Mercedes and Kurt.


_Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a second cycle, and then a third cycle Now here comes cycle 4! :D_

_Had the idea for this seven part series a few weeks ago, got all excited, and now here it is :D The whole thing will come to make new sense in the end ;)_

_Today:_ **_The Cell Block Tango Set:_ Part 3 of 7: Squish [Mercedes, Kurt]**

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**"Squish"  
Mercedes, Kurt**

After she'd had the misfortune of mistaking Kurt's affections for anything more than friendship, she'd thought that perhaps their friendship wouldn't recover, not to how it was before. But it did, and in fact it only got better. Now that he'd told her the truth, they could be more open to one another.

This included Kurt's feelings for Finn, which Mercedes was highly aware of. She tried to be an optimistic ear for him, even though she knew what Kurt was evidently too far away to see what was right in front of him, that Finn was not going to be switching teams.

When Kurt and Finn had been paired up for the ballad assignment, he'd come at her with his giddy self. She'd tried to warn him not to get too excited, but there was no bursting that bubble.

And then there had been… well, machinations seemed a good word for it… his machinations with Quinn, sabotaging Rachel so he would get a shot at Finn. She knew it would be a train wreck, but Kurt needed to go through it. Maybe it would open his eyes in ways she couldn't.

The last little while, she'd thought maybe he had finally moved on. And then she'd crashed head on into the Hummel Express. They were meeting at the mall one Saturday morning. She'd arrived first, so she'd taken a seat near the store and put on her headphones. She was getting her restrained, in-public groove on, when she saw Kurt coming. As she put her iPod away, she vaguely noticed how he seemed a little off. She just wrote it off as something insignificant. However by the second hour, his mood was starting to get her down too, so she had to ask.

"Kurt, what's wrong? Did someone spill something on your new jacket?" she smirked.

"Don't even joke about that," he broke out of his rut for a moment before looking away. Before she could ask what was really up, he asked… "So how long has this been going on?" Mercedes blinked.

"Excuse me? Has what been…"

"You and Finn." She paused, and then laughed.

"Again, excuse me?"

"Well, I'm glad one of us thinks this is funny."

"There's nothing between me and Finn. Come on," she still laughed.

"Really," he held his head up. "Because in case you haven't been paying attention to your own life lately, allow me to give you a brief recap. The last couple of weeks, you and Finn have been everywhere together, every time I see you." Mercedes couldn't believe her ears, but she entertained him.

"Okay, first off, I find it funny, and later so will you. Second, we paired for a project in English class, that's why we've been hanging out more… third off, I don't see what's the big deal about being friends with him."

"Is that all it is?" Kurt nodded in disbelief. "Friends?" Mercedes scoffed, confused about what she was hearing.

"You're serious about this," she held her head up like he did. "I thought you were over him by now. Well I guess you're not, because if you were you'd realize how stupid it is to think I could ever… with Finn…"

"Why, what's wrong with him?" he looked wounded there.

"Nothing, I…" she sighed. "You know what? I didn't say anything before, because we're friends and I don't want you to make decisions because of me, but let me break it down for you right here."

"Go for it," Kurt dared her.

"Finn isn't playing on your team, and he won't, so do yourself… do everyone a favour and just drop it."

Kurt was gone, not ten seconds later. For a minute or so, she was fine by it, pumped up with the emotions, the anger that Kurt could even believe that she would do what he thought she was doing.

Then it was third or fourth minute… and she'd started to cool off a bit… She wished she hadn't told him that… well, no… he needed to hear it. But she wished she hadn't done it like that.

But he'd just gotten past the barrier of control she kept around where he was concerned. She always tried to support and protect him. He was her boy… and he'd upset her, hurt her, in his accusation.

After a few more minutes, she wanted to call him, say something… but she knew there was a cooling off period needed. If she tried to talk to him now, it would only get worse. She didn't want that. She wanted to get back to how it was… Kurt and Mercedes versus the universe. She needed him as much as he needed her.

THE END


End file.
